Mama Flora's Family by Alex Haley

Mama Flora's Family Reviews

• 
  Winter Sophia Rose

  Touching, Inspiring, Emotional & Heartwarming! A Great Read! I Loved It!
• 
  Bobbi

  A wonderful book, but how could it not be coming from Alex Haley. I wanted to give it a 5 but it wasn't as good as Roots. It's sort of a continuing story of what it's like to be black in America during the 20th century, although it only goes into the 1970s. One of the things that I like most about books is the quality of the writing, and this man can write! I will definitely read Queen.
• 
  Angela

  My what a great story. I absolutely loved this book - so much so I can see myself reading it more than once, more than twice. My only complaint, there were parts of the book where it seemed rushed - but I understand that - with the number of characters it would take too much to develop each, and to discuss each relationship in depth.
  
  When I start a novel, what I usually do is read the first chapter, then read the last line of the book. Not sure why I didn't take this approach this time - but I'm glad I didn't. The last line of the book is my absolute favorite. Spoken by Mama Flora:
  
  "Don' care who they is an' where they been or what they doin', if it hadn't been for me an' what I always believed in an' done, then none of it wouldn't never have happened."
  
  Isn't that line the absolute truth? This book reminds me that family is very important (not like I didn't know that anyway) - but even as we all are busy with our own lives, we should remember how we got there - was from the love and care from our families.
• 
  Milena

  Alex Haley...It's a "Godfather" story about the African-American experience. This book spans 3 generations...From slavery to the Chicago ghetto, Black Panthers...The heart of the book is how the love of family members reaches even the deepest, most desperate of situations and how, miraculously, people find a way to continue on, to heal, to continue to struggle. HIGHLY recommend to anyone who loves the "family" aspect of "The Godfather" series...(I think I've made that point already and the last sentence was redundant...oh well...deal with it people...I'm on my "PSMN")
• 
  Kia

  I loved this book. Looked at the lives of Flora and her 3 children. I think I cried for 200 pages, so it made it a little hard to read.
• 
  The Book Junkie Reads . . .

  Heart wrenching drama with just that extra touch of history and home.
• 
  Nancy

  Years ago I read Queen, a book started by Alex Haley (author of Roots) and finished posthumously, which told the story of his father's family. I really liked Queen and thought that maybe I would find something similar in Mama Flora's Family, which came from an uncompleted novel that was inspired by Alex Haley's mother's family. Flora becomes a single mother after her husband is murdered, and raises her children in the Jim Crow South. The story follows the lives of her children and grandchildren and is an interesting look into African American life in the 20th century.
• 
  Bryan

  Alex Haley wrote two of the most profound books of a generation, with Roots and Autobiography of Malcom X. Mama Flora's Family couldn't possibly be as though provoking as those earlier books, but it does take you on a journey worth taking.
• 
  Angie

  Wonderful story about a fabulous family !
• 
  Shawna

  Terrific historical fiction novel by one of the greatest authors. A must if you are interested in american history.
• 
  Candice

  It was a great book, I have to admit I had seen the movie BEFORE i read the book, and I enjoyed them both VERY much.
• 
  Michelle Ham

  Not the best-written book out there but still amazing - and very readable.
• 
  Raney Simmon

  To view on Rainy Day's Books, Video Games and Other Writings:
  https://rainyday.blog/2019/03/03/book...
  
  Highly recommended read by the love of my life, Mama Flora’s Family tells the story of three generations in one African American family. It’s a story that makes you reflect on America’s past, about a time that isn’t that long ago. For me, it made me feel sympathetic to Mama Flora and her family because I know I’ll never understand what it’s like to face such strong racism because of the color of my skin. But reading this story from her family’s perspective and the different conflicts they had to endure made me briefly feel like I could understand what they were going through and wish things were different during that time for them.
  
  What I especially enjoyed about reading this book was that the story wasn’t just told from Mama Flora’s perspective. You as the reader had different family members sharing their own stories, talking about their own struggles and challenges they are enduring during this time. I especially enjoyed reading the chapters that were told from Ruthana and Willie’s perspective because they both had interesting lives that I enjoyed reading about. I also loved it too because I loved all of these characters, which made me enjoy reading this book, even more, to see what happened to this family.
  
  I also enjoyed reading Mama Flora’s Family because I found myself learning more about America during this time. Especially because I learned more about black history, something that’s never fully taught in school. I especially loved learning about black culture, reading about the different styles of clothing and hair that changed as time went on and how Mama Flora and her family reacted to these changes. As someone who typically doesn’t read historical fiction of any kind because it doesn’t interest me all that much, I found the story of this family to be a fantastic read and it made me interested in wanting to learn more.
  
  The only criticism I have with this book is that I sometimes found the story at times to be a little too preachy. While I completely understand the reasoning behind this, since Mama Flora herself was very strong in her faith and it was such a big part of her life that she raised her family to have a strong faith foundation. I don’t personally have a problem with that, even though I myself am still working on my own beliefs and what I personally believe to be true when it comes to faith and religion. I just think at times there was just too much of it in the story.
  
  But overall, I really enjoyed reading Mama Flora’s Family. Mama Flora and her family dealt with quite a lot during that time and it was nice to see how they handled those difficult moments. I also enjoyed reading this book because I learned so much from it despite historical fiction not being something I personally enjoy reading. It made me as a reader consider reading more stories like this because I love learning and enjoy reading about real struggles people deal with in life.
  
  I really appreciate my partner recommending this read to me and highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about black history. For those wanting to read about what black families go through when it comes to racism. It opened my eyes further to issues I know I myself will never have to deal with.
• 
  Jenny Karraker

  I enjoyed this book because it was like having a black history lesson told in a narrative form. The author described scenes which led to the black migration northward, the challenges of urban living in Chicago, the attraction of the black power movement in the 60's, etc. As a mother with 4 grown children, I identified with Mama Flora's desire to give her children a better life, her lack of understanding of their music and fashion styles (which represented to the children a way to identify themselves with their black heritage), her pride at her children's success, and her concern over their struggles with addiction. The intersection of race and gender was very powerfully portrayed in her life and what she worked for and hoped for in her children's lives.
• 
  Kelsie Davis

  Mama Flora's Family was an interesting look into a multigenerational Black family. It explored how the situations for that family evolved as the world evolved and yet, how somethings sadly stayed the same. The author clearly communicates the lives, struggles, and feelings of one Black family in a White America.
  This book is written simply but contains mature content. The writing style adds to the overall flavor of this book. The simplicity really highlighted all of the things that Mama Flora and her family endured and all of the joy and triumph they created for themselves. Alex Haley did a wonderful job at letting the story and characters speak for themselves without superfluous language detraction.
• 
  M Bull

  I enjoyed reading the book of "Mama Flora's Family" a gripping story about a woman's love for her family, faith in God, and being there for one another through trying times. The writing style of this novel seems to be more "telling than showing", which may well be because of trying to fit a number of generations of an entire family into one book, but it was nicely done. However, I still like the 1998 movie better than the book and appreciated the changes they made in the movie to make it a little more "family-friendly," but I also liked reading some of the similarities in the book and picturing the movie scenes too.
• 
  Chelsie

  I thoroughly enjoyed this book until the last quarter of it. It then switched to the kids point of views and seemed kind of rushed with it skipping ahead 5 years here and there. Overall I enjoyed this book, it’s scary to realize this was happening not that long ago.
• 
  Shaylee Eivins

  I loved this book. I fell in love with the story as a child from the movie and reading the book as an adult and a parent puts even more into perspective. This will not be a resounding 5 for everyone, but it is for me. It’s also one of the rare occasions when the movie hits the mark.
• 
  Debbie

  If you liked Roots you will like Mama's family. A wonderful story that the characters seem so real and true.
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  Grace Pigozzi

  This is a fabulous story.
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  Amanda

  Should have been left unfinished.
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  Brenda-Lee Ranta

  I especially treasured this book that Alex Haley started...very touching on many levels
• 
  Overia D

  Very good! Thoroughly enjoyed reading all 394 pages of this novel. It speaks of what faith can and will accomplish when you trust and believe in the Lord God Almighty.